US Home Ownership Falls to 15-Year Low

Hemera Technologies/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The number of American households that own their home is down to a level last seen in early 1997. The Census Bureau said Monday that the homeownership rate fell to 65.4 percent at the end of March, down from a peak of 69.2 percent in mid-2004.

Compared to the end of last year, the homeownership rate fell in all four U.S. regions: Northeast, Midwest, South and West. The biggest decline was in the Northeast, which slipped 1.2 percentage points to 62.5 percent, according to the Census report.

Since the recession started in December 2007, African-American households have seen the biggest drop in home ownership, down 4.6 percentage points to 43.1 percent.